


Tears

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Detention, Divination, Fluffy, Friend group, Friendship, Gen, Happy, Howlers (Harry Potter), Magic, Marauders, Marauders era, Punishment, Scolding, because we don't know who taught divination in their time, friends - Freeform, joke, prank, there's a made up teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 18:50:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3421658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus HATES Divination, and James and Sirius have the perfect way to get him out of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tears

Week by week, Remus was getting more and more sick of Divination.

If it wasn't the constant threats to Peter's health and well being (“My dear, I can see a top hat in your tea...you're in danger! You must protect yourself!” Professor Wordsmith had squealed last lesson), it'd be just how ridiculous and tenuous it all was. It was the only subject that he got poor marks in, but he _really_ did get poor marks. James and Sirius, and even Peter, did fairly well, as they simply made up terrible, tragic things every lesson. Lying, however, was not part of Remus's plan towards his OWLS, even if it was only third year, and so he miserably stared at teacups and into crystal balls every lesson, longing for the slightest hint of _anything_. 

“Remus, what's up?” Sirius asked one day, leaping over the top of the sofa that Remus was sitting on and landing half on the sofa, half across Remus's lap. Remus sighed heavily.

“Divination. I wish I could go back and slap myself for taking it.”

“Quit the subject, mate.” Sirius replied. “You're doing Arithmancy and Ancient Runes as well, you don't need Divination.”

Remus's eyes grew wide, and he glowered at Sirius, who promptly groaned. “Sirius, there is  _no way_ I could quit! I chose Divination over Care of Magical Creatures, and so I've got to stick with it! Besides, I doubt Professor McGonagall would let me just quit a subject.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and began speaking before Remus could get into proper rant mode. “You're being ridiculous, Moony. Pete only took two, I only took two, James only took two. You only really need OWLs in the main subjects, Defence and Herbology and all of those. Just quit!”

Pale with upset and anger, Remus shook his head, before turning back to the book on palmistry that was resting in his lap. Shaking his head, Sirius left him to seek out his other friends and possibly hold a conference on how to make Remus stop being a twat.

* * *

 

“Potter!”

James looked up from the palm which he had been studying and automatically fixed his face into a mask of innocence, his brown eyes wide as he stared at Professor Wordsmith. “Yes, Professor?”

“Where are Black and Lupin?”

Across the room, Peter stifled a giggle. James launched himself into acting mode, blinking pathetically at the Professor. “They're just too scared to come to Divination, Professor, because of your constant predictions of Peter's death. They feel that they're in danger in your classroom.”

Professor Wordsmith threw her hands in the air, a theatrical look of astonishment on her face. “Don't they know that here is the safest place? If they're here, I can predict their downfall! Potter, go and fetch them at once.”

James fled, grinning to himself. It had taken a lot to convince Moony to participate in this wonderful little prank, but when he'd been convinced, he'd had some wonderful ideas. He'd even agreed to sneak out (with the invisibility cloak) and go to the Restricted Section of the library to track down a book with a specific spell in it. As soon as James reached the Gryffindor common room, he found Remus and Sirius waiting, Sirius looking exasperated and Remus nervous.

“He doesn't want to do it any more.” Sirius sighed, rolling his eyes at his friend. James let out a screech of exasperation which made Remus jump violently.

“We're doing it, Lupin, and it's going to go down in Hogwarts history. What was the incantation for the spell?”

“Aquaveni.”

Yanking his wand from his pocket, James jabbed it towards first Remus, then Sirius, and exclaimed the incantation. It worked immediately. Remus's eyes began to water and his whole face took on the appearance of someone who had been sobbing. 

Then James looked at Sirius.

Water was gushing from his mouth, nose and eyes, and he looked rather like a fountain. No laughter bubbled up within James, just pure panic.

“Do you feel...okay?” James asked, staring at his friend. Sirius gave a gurgled reply.

“Fine!”

“Remus and I are going to do the prank, and then you've got to go to the hospital wing. It's meant to stop in a few minutes...but that's seriously dodgy, mate.”

* * *

 

“Lupin!”

Professor Wordsmith looked utterly flabbergasted to see Remus in a state of tears. While she didn't  _like_ Remus, and found him rather too critical of Divination for his own good, she always admired his sense.

“Professor.” Remus snivelled, throwing himself into his usual seat. James sat next to him, choking back his laughter, while Peter watched intently from across the room, having been separated in the second week for giggling.

“Where's Black?”

“He's too upset to come...” Remus replied, trying not to think about poor Sirius and the water gushing out of his face.

“Are you...okay?”

Remus could feel that the spell was beginning to wear off, and so acted quickly, spurred on by James's quiet giggling. “I don't think I can take Divination any more, it's too upsetting!”

With that, he flounced from the classroom, feeling intensely guilty but also rather relieved to be out of the clutches of the ridiculous Professor.

* * *

 

“Lupin. Potter. Black.”

All three boys froze at the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice just above them during dinner that day, while Peter continued shovelling food into his mouth, just at a much faster pace. He had a horrible tendency to crack under pressure and blabber to teachers, so it was best for him to keep his mouth safely full.

“Yes, Professor?” Sirius replied, flashing her a glittering smile. 

“I've just heard a rather interesting tale from Professor Wordsmith. Upon further investigation, I found an interesting tale from Madam Pince, and another one from Madam Pomfrey. Would you care to explain?”

Remus flashed panicked eyes at James, who in turn stared hopefully at Sirius. Sirius was the best at coming up with instant lies that got them out of trouble.

“I haven't an idea what you're talking about, Professor.” Sirius evenly replied after a few seconds. “Myself and Remus couldn't _possibly_ go to Divination today, we were just too upset about the prospect of losing Peter!”

One eyebrow slowly rose. “And I suppose the book which gave you the Tearjerker Spell just waltzed out of the Restricted Section and into your hands, did it?”

The game was up. They all knew it.

“I'd say it was more of a Tango, to be honest, rather than a waltz.” James replied. Immediately, Sirius snorted into his sandwich, while Remus glanced nervously from McGonagall to James and back again. Peter continued shovelling at an almost manic pace, his food barely chewed at it went down his throat. McGonagall fixed James with a frosty glare, her arms crossing her chest tightly.

“Potter, you can join me in detention tomorrow, I think. Lupin, Black, ten points from Gryffindor apiece for your little joke.”

As soon as she clacked away, all four boys began to laugh, helplessly collapsing against one another.

“Did you see her face?” Peter gasped, flecks of food down his shirt and a hard rock of pain in his stomach from his fast, compulsive eating. James and Sirius began to laugh even harder, giggles chocking them, while Remus began to straighten up a little, looking rather anxious.

“Do you think Professor Wordsmith will be cross with me?”

Still shaking with laughter, James pulled Remus into a rough bear hug, before ruffling his hair. “McGonagall's taken points, mate, I don't think you'll be in much more trouble than that.”

* * *

 

“I am _extremely_ disappointed in your behaviour, young man. You may not enjoy Divination, but that little prank was cruel, and it upset me a lot. If you wanted to quit Divination, you should have come to me directly, or to your head of house. I am disgusted that you could behave like this!”

Professor Wordsmith had come directly to the Gryffindor common room to fetch Remus, a tight frown on her face and her wand, for some reason, tucked under her arm. The wand, which may have made other people look formiddable, merely made her look rather silly, especially when it dropped to the floor. Evidently she wasn't aware it had been there.

“I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't think-”

“No, you _didn_ ' _t_ think. You didn't think at all. I'm assigning you detention every night for a week, with me, in here, straight after dinner. I thought you were a good boy, Lupin, I am shocked at your behaviour. Your choices were extremely poor.”

Remus shivered and stared at the ground, feeling dangerously close to tears. The scolding had lasted almost five minutes now, and every second had made him feel worse and worse.Every other time that he had gotten into trouble, it had been with Sirius and James. While he didn't enjoy being scolded with them, he always felt comforted by their presence. Here, he was totally alone.

“I'm sorry, Professor.”

“Good. You may go back to your common room.”

* * *

 

“Moony! You're brilliant!”

The sick feeling of guilt for disappointing a teacher had been slowly melting away since he entered the common room. Tearful and shaky, he'd poured out his tale...only to have James, Sirius and Peter congratulate him heartily for his nerve and humour, and the former two to tell anyone and everyone that he'd pushed the damaged but generally good natured Divination professor into the scolding of a lifetime along with seven detentions, who then generally also congratulated him too.

“Even James and I haven't managed detention with the old bat yet...new record!”

“We should go down to Hogsmeade tonight to celebrate. The cloak hasn't seen enough use of late, I think.” James grinned at his friends as he spoke, before giving Remus a comforting rub on the arm. Remus gave a hesitant smile.

“Maybe that would be nice.” he replied, before suddenly laughing. “I can't really get in much more trouble if we're caught, can I?”

“That's the spirit!” Sirius exclaimed, thumping Remus on the arm with excitement. “Honestly, you should get into trouble more often, it makes you less strict.”

“I get into trouble more than I'd like as it is, thank you.” Remus replied, smiling as he returned the thump. “You three make sure of that.”

“You love it really.” James replied, before pouting. “And anyway, it's mostly Peter. You know how dark and dangerous he is, he's constantly causing trouble.”

“Hey!” Peter exclaimed, before suddenly understanding the joke and giggling. The four had a wonderful evening, all giggling together about Remus's 'bad side'.

* * *

 

“ _REMUS JOHN LUPIN! HOW COULD YOU? LITTLE PRANKS NOW AND THEN ARE UNDERSTANDABLE...BUT TO DELIBERATELY UPSET A PROFESSOR, ALL IN THE NAME OF HUMOUR? WHEN YOU GET HOME YOU'RE IN DEEP TROUBLE, YOUNG MAN!”_

The succinct howler had been terrifying when it arrived. Remus knew that his parents cared very deeply about his behaviour, and impressed onto him just how important it was to be well behaved because of his 'furry little problem'. He'd had some severe scoldings in the past for misbehaviour, and was grounded in response to most misbehaviour, just to ensure his good behaviour.

After a few seconds, however, Remus had been howling with laughter. It was so _ridiculous_ , so absolutely improbable, and all rooted in his reluctant agreement with James and Sirius that he'd go along with their prank plan. James and Sirius hadn't even gotten in trouble for their involvement, save ten points docked from Sirius and a detention for James which had really mostly just been for his cheek.

“I love your mum.” Sirius laughed after the howler was over, gathering the ashes and paper left over and sprinkling them over Peter, who immediately protested loudly. Sirius ignored him, still grinning. “Peter and James and I, we never get howlers or anything, and we get into trouble far more than you. If you did some of the stuff me and James had done, your mum'd spontaneously combust.”

“They're going to kill me in the next holiday.” Remus gravely replied, fighting to keep the smile at the ludicrous situation off of his face. “You'll all have to come and visit my grave. It'll read 'RIP Remus, murdered by his parents for something his friends forced him to do'.”

“I'll make sure to bring flowers. Peonies are your favourites, aren't they?” Peter replied, dragging a bit of parchment from his pocket as if he planned to write down Remus's answer. As the four giggled together over breakfast, they felt invincible. Nothing could ever go wrong for them again.

 


End file.
